Dominican justice proceeded this week to the interrogation of the Haitian minor who was allegedly the victim of rape by a Dominican soldier during an immigration check carried out on April 5 in the area of Ensanche Boulevard in Punta Cana. Justice also heard the accused himself, as well as a witness who is a neighbor of the alleged victim.
The Dominican media Diario Libre, which reported some elements of the interrogations, presented the victim under the name MA to protect his identity. As for the witness, it is a neighbor of the victim who responds to the name of Fabiola Jean Batist, and the accused, for his part, responds to the name of Paulino de la Cruz, an enlisted man in the army of air of the Dominican Republic.
It is the Dominican daily Listin Diario, which had access to the police investigation containing the interrogation of the accused, witnesses and commanders of the army of the Dominican Republic, which shared the extracts reproduced below.
First, the interrogation of the witness who is a neighbor of the victim
Fabiola Jean Batist, MA’s neighbor was at home. She was the first person to help the victim. On April 11, six days after the events, she was questioned by authorities, Diario Libre reported.
The witness, a Haitian national, was questioned by the prosecutor of the Victim Assistance Unit, Dr. Silveria Poueriet Rodríguez.
What is your name ?
– Fabiola Jean Batist
Nationality ?
– Haitian
Do you know why you are here?
– Oui.
Explain me. For what ?
– Because on Friday, around 5 a.m., immigration officers arrived and broke down the door. They entered the house, they asked me for my passport. Then there was one who entered the house of the 14-year-old neighbor. I heard the girl screaming and asking to be released, to let her go and she was crying a lot. I approached the door and asked what was happening. Then the man dressed as a guard came out. I walked into my neighbor’s house and that’s when I saw the 14 year old girl crying, holding on to the pants she was wearing and I noticed that the dress she was wearing What she was wearing was also torn. I asked her what happened to her and she told me that the guard who came out had raped her.
To the victims
“What happened was I was alone in my house and a person dressed as an immigration officer came into my house. He came to where I was and told me to be quiet. He asked me for a kiss, to which I told him no. That’s when he grabbed me by the neck and took me to my room, there he took off the clothes I was wearing and then he penetrated me with his private parts, I told him no, no , I don’t want to, but he continues. The guard, hearing a noise, finished with me and left. He ejaculated inside me without using protection.
This noise that the rapist heard was that of the neighbor, Fabiola Jean Batist, who, after hearing the screams, went to the house to find out what was happening.
A medical report from forensic pathologists established that the victim, MA, “was properly sanitized, with the ability to locate himself in time, space and person. Focused and giving precise details of what happened.”
The adolescent was subjected to a genital evaluation on April 9, establishing that “The adolescent presents findings at the hymenal membrane consistent with previous defloration.” She showed signs of having been penetrated, consistent with signs of rape.
The interrogation of the accused
Paulino de la Cruz is the accused in the alleged rape. He was identified as the one who wore a balaclava on April 5 during the event, and who had to be picked up because he had not joined his colleagues in time. He was also the one who was identified by the victim when he was shown the photos of the officers who were on duty that day.
What is your name and what do you do?
– My name is Paulino De La Cruz, I am a soldier, I am a soldier in the Air Force. I’m 18 years old.
Do you know why you are here?
– Yes sir. I am here for sexual rape of a minor in Verón on April 5.
What happened ?
– Sir, I was in operation on April 5. Around 10 a.m., they called the immigration inspector, named Jairo, and told him that a sexual offense had taken place in Verón. Sir, we knew this because Jairo told us everyone who worked that day in Verón.
What exactly did he tell you?
– Sir, he told us that there was a sexual rape of a minor of Haitian nationality. He asked us who did this and I said no because I had no knowledge of it.
Could you have had contact with the minor?
– I don’t think so, because I don’t go to houses.
Have you commented on the sexual assault with your other colleagues?
– Yes sir. We talked about it with the agents and with my colleagues Kelin and Gennyi Lora. We wondered who could have done this and said no one had the heart to do this.
How were you dressed at the time of the operation?
– I was dressed in a Chamaco Digital and headphones.
For the moment, no court decision has been handed down because the Dominican justice system is facing two versions of the story: one, that of the alleged victim with a lot of evidence, and another, that of the the accused that everything accuses, even the report of his superior, emphasizing that he was the only one absent during the gathering of immigration agents and that we had to go looking for him.
With Diario Libre
